Kenya Encourages Coffee Roasting

Kenya intends to play a bigger role in the coffee roasting industry. Plans are in the works to increase roasting and help farmers find foreign partners for distribution. The goal is to add value to raw bean exports and enhance the country’s already strong coffee brand.

Kenya grows 1% of the world’s coffee supply, 49,600 US tons in 2015-16. Expectations for 2016-17 reach higher than 55,000 tons, according to a recent Reuters news report. Only 5% of exports now leave as roasted beans. The government’s goal is to increase local coffee roasting by 5 to 10% each year for the next five years.

"Any value addition that can give us more money, that is the direction we want to take. We should actually go to 50% if possible," Richard Lesiyampe, principal secretary for agriculture, told Reuters. "It is really ambitious but can be done."